The Iraq War Inquiry - Another Whitewash?

As the Green Party's representative on the Stop the War Coalition's Steering Group, I attended a meeting a few weeks ago about the Iraq Inquiry to see if all the real evidence can be heard and whether it will be just another whitewash as the Hutton and Butler inquiries were. It has been wrung out of Gordon Brown and it is also clear that the Inquiry's findings are unlikely to be heard this side of the general election, but it is essential that all voices are heard, including those who have lost family members in the war, Iraquis themselves and those who have evidence of the pre-war collusion which took place involving Blair and Bush. Stop the War sent the following letter to the Inquiry's Chair, Sir John Chilcot, last week. We will see what the response is like.

In the interim, another war continues in Afghanistan, and the US calls for more British and NATO troops to be sent. A former Foreign Office Minister, Kim Howells, states that the British public have lost their stomach for fighting foreign wars. Perhaps Blair's 'muscular interventionism' and flouting of international law has something to do with that. The Tories, just as they did with Iraq, run along in the government's train, fully supporting the war effort. Can we expect more crocodile tears from them in the years ahead when all the details about this current war become clear?

Tonight at 7.30pm Lambeth Stop the War calls a public meeting on Afghanistan with John Rees of Stop the War at Clapham Methodist Church, Nelsons Row/Clapham High St, near Sainsbury's

Clapham Common Tube. More info: 07914311866

Sir John Chilcot,
Chair, the Iraq Inquiry
C/O The Secretariat
The Iraq Inquiry
35 Great Smith Street
SW1P 3BQ
30 July 2009

Dear Sir John,

I am writing on behalf of the Stop the war Coalition to ask that the Stop the War Coalition be given the opportunity to present evidence to the inquiry into the Iraq war.
As you may be aware, the Stop the War Coalition was the principal organisation leading the opposition to the war before it was begun in 2003, and to the subsequent occupation of Iraq. We organised the demonstration against the war in February 15 2003 which was the largest political protest ever held in this country. The Coalition had (and has) the support of a large and diverse range of organisations, including most major trade unions, religious bodies, political parties and campaigns. We have also worked closely with the Military Families Against the War organisation. Our President is Tony Benn, and our other officers include two members of parliament (Jeremy Corbyn MP and George Galloway MP), one member of the European parliament and two now-retired MPs, including Tam Dalyell, father of the House of Commons at the time of the war.

It was our contention at the time that the case advanced by the government for attacking Iraq was based on misinformation regarding Iraq’s weapons capability and regarding the Iraqi regime’s relationship with al-Qaeda; that the decision to attack was in violation of international law and the United Nations Charter; that government policy was based on secret undertakings made to the government of the USA; that the majority of the Iraqi people would not welcome an invasion; and that the government’s policy would make this country more vulnerable to terrorism rather than less. We believe that the Coalition’s position on all these points, shared as they were by millions of people in Britain, have been amply vindicated by subsequent events and revelations. It would be our intention to submit evidence to your inquiry on these issues, and to highlight the undemocratic nature of the government’s decision to go to war in 2003. It is our understanding that all this falls within your terms of reference.

As well as submitting our own evidence to the inquiry we would like to propose some other expert witnesses. We would therefore like to arrange a meeting with you or your representatives to discuss our suggested input and the procedure for submitting evidence.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Murray
National Chair
Stop the War Coalition